SkipNavigation
US-CERT
American Flag
  Vulnerability
Notes
Database

Search Vulnerability Notes

Vulnerability Notes Help Information


 
 View Notes By
  Name

ID Number

CVE Name

Date Public

Date Published

Date Updated

Severity Metric



 Other Documents
  Technical Alerts

Technical Bulletins

Alerts

Security Tips

Vulnerability Note VU#426273

KTH Kerberos filesystem race condition on tickets stored in /tmp

Overview

There may be a race condition during the creation of Kerberos ticket files in the /tmp directory. This race condition may allow intruders with local access to the system to gain root privileges.

I. Description

During the creation of ticket files in the /tmp directory, a sequence of calls occur which may allow a local attacker to replace the ticket file with a symbolic link. If this symbolic link is followed when the ownership of the ticket file is set, the attacker may be able to gain ownership of files initially owned by root.

II. Impact

On systems where the sticky bit is not set on the /tmp directory, a local attacker can gain ownership of any file on the system. This allows the attacker to gain root privileges.

This attack may also be possible on systems where the /tmp directory does have its sticky bit set, depending on the exact sequence of calls used to create and set the ownership of the Kerberos ticket file.

III. Solution

Apply a patch from your vendor.

Systems Affected

VendorStatusDate NotifiedDate Updated
AppleNot Vulnerable14-Dec-2000
BSDIUnknown14-Dec-2000
CalderaUnknown14-Dec-2000
Compaq Computer CorporationNot Vulnerable14-Dec-2000
Data GeneralUnknown14-Dec-2000
DebianUnknown14-Dec-2000
FreeBSDVulnerable14-Dec-2000
FujitsuNot Vulnerable11-Jan-2001
Hewlett PackardUnknown14-Dec-2000
IBMNot Vulnerable14-Dec-2000
KTH KerberosUnknown14-Dec-2000
MicrosoftNot Vulnerable14-Dec-2000
NetBSDUnknown14-Dec-2000
OpenBSDUnknown14-Dec-2000
RedHatUnknown14-Dec-2000
SGIUnknown14-Dec-2000
SonyUnknown14-Dec-2000
SunUnknown14-Dec-2000
Washington UniversityUnknown14-Dec-2000

References


http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/2093

Credit

Thanks to Jouko Pynnönen for reporting this vulnerability to the CERT/CC, and to Assar Westerlund for assisting in the development of this document.

This document was written by Cory F Cohen.

Other Information

Date Public:2000-12-09
Date First Published:2000-12-19
Date Last Updated:2001-01-11
CERT Advisory: 
CVE-ID(s): 
NVD-ID(s): 
US-CERT Technical Alerts: 
Metric:8.19
Document Revision:9

If you have feedback, comments, or additional information about this vulnerability, please send us email.
 

 
Page Corner Image
Copyright 2000 Carnegie Mellon University
Disclaimers and copyright information
Get Adobe Reader Get Adobe Reader